Display case



' Feb. 11, 1969 R. L. SINCLAIR 3,427,034

DISPLAY .CASE

Filed Sept. 23, 1966 FlG l O O O O OO 'OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 000 O0 0000 O OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOZO l3 .gssssgsa ooooooo l2 OOOOOD ooooo J INVENTOR.

RoberfLslhr/m'r 64 BY ffil (fawn a a yam I1 is af/a/rmys United States Patent Oflice 3,427,084 Patented Feb. 11, 1969 3,427,084 DISPLAY CASE Robert L. Sinclair, Dedham, Mass., assignor to The Gillette Company, Boston, Mass., a corporation of Delaware Filed Sept. 23, 1966, Ser. No. 581,566 U.S. Cl. 312-117 5 Claims Int. Cl. A47f 7/ 00, 5/00; A47b 57/28 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention is concerned with merchandise display cases which can be divided into compartments of various sizes through the use of a plurality of removable partitions. The partitions are formed from a single sheet of resilient material by deforming it to form two diverging side walls. The side walls are resiliently movable toward one another and on their lower edges they each merge into a pair of downwardly extending spaced legs. Through the resilient movement of the side walls the legs are readily inserted and detached from perforations provided in the base of the case.

This invention comprises a new and improved case or tray for displaying in full View to prospective customers small articles of merchandise such as safety razors, blade packages and toilet accessories. It is a general object of the invention to provide a case so constructed and arranged that it may readily be modified to receive articles of different sizes and shapes and display such articles in clean condition beneath a transparent cover.

An important feature of the invention consists in the combination with a perforated base of a plurality of partition members that may be readily detached and replaced in a great variety of selected positions to provide compartments of various sizes which can accommodate articles of different types and shapes such, for example, as display cards carrying blade packages or safety razor sets.

Another feature of the invention resides in the structure of the partition members themselves. These may be readily formed at low cost from a single blank of spring sheet steel or suitable plastic material. Generally such partitions comprise two downwardly diverging walls which are joined at their upper edges along a common fold vertex. Each of the side edges of the walls merge into inturned end flanges which serve to strengthen the structure. The end flanges extend downwardly below the lower edges of the walls to provide a pair of legs at each end of the partition. The legs are of such size that they may be readily inserted in the perforations in the bottom of the case and each (leg) has an outwardly opening notch therein which interlockingly engages the edges of the perforations when the legs are inserted. Normally the notches in each pair of legs are spaced slightly further apart than the perforations into which they are to be inserted so that the partitions may be resiliently sprung into position by slight inward compression and become immediately locked in place.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings in which- FIG. 1 is a plan view of the case showing the larger part of the cover as broken away,

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary view in perspective of one of the partitions, and

FIG. 3 is an end view of the same in association with the bottom of the case.

The case as herein shown includes in its structure a rectangular bottom 10 with upright side walls 11 and end walls 12. The front of the case is provided with an outwardly and downwardly extending display panel 12'. The bottom 10 of the case is fully covered with perforations 14 which are arranged both longitudinally and transversely in parallel rows; the spacing between the longitudinal rows being the same as that between the transverse rows. A transparent cover plate of glass or resinous compound is hinged to the front end wall 12 and is of such size and shape as to enclose the whole area of the case and its contents.

The partitions 15 shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 comprise rectangular side walls 16 which are united at their upper edge in a line of common fold vertex 17and diverge downwardly. The side walls 16 merge at each end into inturned end flanges 18 which extend downwardly below the lower edges of the walls so as to provide legs 18a at each of the lower corners of the partition 15. The legs 18a are of such size that they may be readily inserted in the perforations 14 and each leg 18a has its outer edge downwardly and inwardly tapered, as shown, so as to facilitate such insertion. The pair of legs 18a at one end of the partition is spaced from the pair of legs at the other end of the partition by such a distance that all the legs 18a will register with perforations 14 when the partition 15 is to be inserted. An outwardly opening notch 19, which extends partly into the lower edge of the side walls 16, is provided in each leg. The notch 19 defines a neck portion 20 and serves to interlockingly engage the edges of the perforations 14 when the partition is set in place.

The material of the partitions 15 is spring steel or other resilient sheet metal and the side walls 16 are given an initial setting such that the necks 20 are spaced from each other by a distance slightly in excess of the spacing of the perforations 14 in the bottom 10. The result is that when the side walls 16 are slightly compressed the legs 18a may be inserted in perforations 14 of adjacent rows and when they are relieved of pressure they spring outwardly and cause interlocking engagement as shown in FIG. 3. The partitions 15 are thus held upright upon the bottom 10. They may be readily and individually detached and replaced in position to receive the articles for display. As shown in FIG. 1 two horizontally disposed partitions 15 enclose a stack of blade carrying cards 21 and vertically disposed partitions 15" enclose one or more safety razor sets 22. When it is desired to remove the partitions 15 for repositioning, the side walls 16 are compressed slightly inwardly as the partition is moved upwardly.

It will be seen that the case herein desicribed may be packed with the selected merchandise at any convenient station, as the manufacturers plant, and then transported intact to the dealers counter or show window. The contents are completely protected yet readily accessible for removal on sale. As sales occur or new merchandise is provided the sizes of the various compartments may be varied to accommodate it by merely moving the partitions. Meanwhile the perforated bottom prevents the accumulation of dust or debris within the case.

Having thus described my invention and described an illustrative embodiment thereof, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A merchandise display case which can be changeably divided into compartments of various sizes, said case comprising a bottom wall having a plurality of perforations arranged in parallel rows and a plurality of partitions which are detachably locked into said parallel rows, each of said partitions having an integral structure formed from a single sheet of resilient material, said sheet being bent along a fold line to provide two downwardly diverging side walls which are resiliently movable toward one another, the lower edge of each side wall merging into a pair of downwardly extending, spaced legs, the legs attached to a common side wall being spaced from one another so as to register with perforations in the row in which they are inserted, and the partitions having an initial setting such that the legs on one side wall being spaced from the corresponding legs on the other side wall' that said side walls have to be resiliently urged together in order to permit insertion of the legs into perforations of parallel rows.

2. A display case as defined in claim 1 wherein said legs have outwardly opening notches therein which engage the edges of the perforations in a yieldingly interlocking relationship.

3. A display case as defined in claim 1, wherein the side edges of said side walls merge into inturned end flanges, said inturned end flanges extending downwardly below the lower edges of said side walls and forming the legs of said partitions.

4. A display case as defined in claim 3, wherein said legs have outwardly opening notches therein which engage the edges of the perforations in a yieldingly interlocking relationship.

5. For use in a merchandising display case having a bottom wall provided with a plurality of perforations arranged in parallel rows, a partition having an integral structure formed from a single sheet of resilient material,

said sheet being bent along a fold line to provide two downwardly diverging side walls which are resiliently movable toward one another, the lower side edges of each side wall merging into inturned, downwardly extending flanges having outwardly opening notches therein for engagement with edges of the perforations, the flanges of a common side wall being spaced from one another so as to register with perforations in a row of apertures, and the flanges on one side Wall being spaced from the corresponding flanges on the other side wall by a distance slightly in excess of the distance between two parallel rows.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,473,064 11/1923 Vance 21l184 1,739,730 12/1929 OrthWine 3121l7 X 2,108,950 2/1938 Stuber 211-184 X 2,263,255 11/1941 West 312117 2,855,258 10/1958 Moncier 211184 X 2,933,195 4/1960 Radek 312140.3 3,052,363 9/1962 Foote et a1. 211-184 X BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner.

J. L. KOHNEN, Assistant Examiner.

US Cl. X.R. 

